Bubs

Critiqued by Holly Bartges

Would that the World Premier of Bubs: One Man Musical could be extended coming to the end of its run Saturday September 20 at the Avenue Theatre.

Eric Sandvold in Bubs now showing at the Avenue Theater. Photo Credit: Cy Frost

Bubs is an absolutely, no question, knock-you-out-of-your-seat-throw-you-out-of-the-saddle-slam-dunk winner!!!

Produced by MSB Productions, written by Cy Frost and Doug Olson, directed by Paragon Theatre’s Warren Sherrill, Bubs features Eric Sandvold showcasing 18 different roles in a mind blowing performance.

A back-up band on stage generally aids and abets the actors. Not this band. This band is a Wow!! A wow in musical expertise, a wow in personality, a wow that just doesn’t play music, it is Music with a capital M. The music shines through the eyes, heart, and soul of Shauna Earp, Peter Huffaker, Joe Kelly, Dean Kielian, Edd Nichols, and Kristin Schirmuhly. I didn’t want them to stop. I wanted to corral them on stage for the rest of the night.

When Bubs came to its final note, I wanted to say to Sandvold, “Do it again! Once more with feeling,” although if any more feeling had been poured into the Avenue that night, the theatre would have exploded.

Bubs wraps itself around a universal story of a family torn apart, of a father addicted to alcohol promising himself and his son time and time again he would sober up. Sometimes the promise lasts for a few hours, sometimes several days, but the promise always ends up drowning in a glass of booze. Bubs is a universal story about family love, confusion of a little boy wondering how his mother could say “I love you”, leaving to follow a dream into the theatre. A universal story about a man’s dream with a band called Bubs feeding heart-felt truths coming from these wondrous characters to his son. A universal story of a boy growing up, heart broken over his father, feasting on his father’s wisdom in spite of the addiction, and following his own dream.

Sandvold flows from one character into another, into another, with grace, humor, heartbreak, and wonder, catapulted with an honest celebration for life. My eyes felt like they would pop out of my head. My mouth didn’t close until I waked across the street to my car.

Quick blackouts in between scenes punctuate intensity, giving Sandvold a moment for eye-blinking costume and personality changes. Jacob Welch designed the lighting scheme that reflecting the varied mood changes. Brynn Starr Coplan designed the huge costume demands, and Pan Productions created the perfected sound.

Will’s Dad introduces him to Stubby Ziegler with the song Back From The Dead. An “erratic and unpredictable performer”, Stubby has been “hired and fired from every lower-tier nightclub in North America”. He’s got headstrong guts. Sandvold gives it to the audience.

Sandvold becomes a 12-year-old when his mother calls from Los Angeles. The father wants her home, and she simply says, “I am home.” The use of a hand puppet cultivates attention.

Of course, Will finds trouble in school. In conversation, the father laments, “What I was reaching for wasn’t what I really wanted,”

Wiley Tibbs, a cowboy philosopher, sings The Big Picture. Sensible Ben Dooley sings This Train. Powerful Roland idolized Gordon MacRae, once believing he was a traditional musical theatre leading man, reveals and revels in an eye-opening transformation.

Eric Sandvold in Bubs Photo Credit: Cy Frost

The kids at school refused to believe Will’s Dad played with the Bubs. He takes them home to show them a picture. What they find is the man drunk on the porch, and they run off laughing. At bedtime, his Father tries to say he's sorry in the only way he knows how singing as Billy Jo Taylor who came from the Appalachian Mountains. His “happy music with sad words” comes out in the song Where The Sun Don’t Shine”.

The kids at school hear about the man rolled up on the porch in a welcome mat, and Will starts to write his own songs. Sure he’s scared, but he signs up anyway for the school talent show. The kids deem him a success sparking Will to ask his dad, “How old do you have to be to drop out of school?”

Count Schmelva, a vampire TV host despises sentimentality wanting his young audience to accept the reality fear controls their live singing Count Schmelva’s Theme and You’re Not Getting Out of This Life Alive. Teddible lives on the street. People continuously disappoint him. He knows several people, but has only one friend sings It’s So Hard Lovin’ You.

Rev. Harlis “Sonny” Basham, a Pentecostal minister, lost his congregation when he was discovered having an affair with a church elder’s wife, desperately wanting to redeem himself, sings Home.

Bubs features 14 characters in all. The characters and personalities all relate to the ongoing tug of war and love with Will and his Father. Before they turn off the machines, Will stood beside the bed and said, “We know things Pop. We know things about each other. You loved me. It took me so long to understand. I got it now.” An hour later the machines were unplugged.

It matter little what the calendar says, cancel it. Call the Avenue for reservations to experience this astonishing universal story with some of the most remarkable characters you’ll ever meet through the brilliant writing of Frost and Olson, a band that just doesn’t play music, but becomes the music, and Sandvold’s incredible, unforgettable, magical transforming performance.

If changing the schedule won’t work, call the Avenue and beg for the return of Bubs with Sandvold, and this illustrious band. Humor wraps itself warmly around lost dreams, conflicted but deep family love, heartbreak disappointment, celebration, hope, penetrating conviction, and souls singing with wisdom.

Bubs: One Man Musical World Premier
MSB Theatre Productions;
By Cy Frost and Doug Olson;
Directed by Warren Sherrill
Starring Erik Sandvold